Steve Bannon endorsement a sudden handicap

With a single statement from President Donald Trump, former White House strategist Steve Bannon has gone from kingmaker to political liability.

After his ouster from the White House late last summer, Republican Senate candidates of all stripes sought the backing of the Breitbart chairman and his affiliated political group, the Great America Alliance. The thinking was that an endorsement from Bannon would provide an implicit Trump seal of approval, even if the president himself couldn’t or wouldn’t wade into a Republican primary battle.

But Trump’s evisceration of Bannon on Wednesday — after his former ally said in an upcoming book that Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian operatives was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” — has freed GOP candidates who didn’t win Bannon’s backing to slam those who did as disloyal to the president. And at least one candidate who sought Bannon’s endorsement ended up attacking him.

“It was incredibly disappointing to learn of these vicious attacks by Steve Bannon against the president and his family,” said Jess Ward, campaign manager for Leah Vukmir, a Wisconsin state senator running for the upper chamber in Washington, D.C.

"Any self-respecting Republican should question whether Steve Bannon has any role in building our party” — Jess Ward, campaign manager for a Wisconsin state senator

Whether Wednesday’s Bannon-Trump blowup will be a temporary breakup or permanent rupture could determine how much of a factor the Breitbart chief will turn out to be in the midterms. A lasting breakup could, at least, create an awkward split among Trump loyalists who also devoutly back Bannon’s nationalist brand of politics.

In the moment, though, candidates seized on the split between the president and his onetime strategist, even as Bannon-aligned candidates chose not to flee from his endorsement.

Vukmir had met with Bannon this past fall to ask for his endorsement. Bannon ultimately decided to back Kevin Nicholson, a military veteran and businessman who better fit Bannon’s outsider ethos. But Vukmir’s campaign quickly seized on Bannon’s weakened position.

“After the Alabama debacle, and now this, any self-respecting Republican should question whether Steve Bannon has any role in building our party,” Ward said, referring to Bannon’s embrace of failed Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore in last month’s special election. “Kevin Nicholson should disavow his endorsement.”

The Nicholson campaign tried to laugh off the attack, noting the campaigns had signed a unity pledge just hours earlier on Wednesday. “Leah spent a great deal of time and energy seeking Steve Bannon’s endorsement and was unsuccessful. It’s easy to see why she is frustrated,” Nicholson spokesman Brandon Moody said.

Andy Surabian, a former White House aide who serves as a top political lieutenant to Bannon, declined to comment.

Rep. Evan Jenkins, a Democrat-turned-Republican who is challenging Sen. Joe Manchin in West Virginia, was the first GOP Senate candidate to pounce Wednesday, attacking state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, his main opponent in the May primary.

“After Steve Bannon’s vicious attacks on President Trump and his family, Patrick Morrisey should immediately disavow Bannon’s support. If he refuses, West Virginians will know that what President Trump said of Bannon today is also true of Morrisey: ‘He is only in it for himself,’” Jenkins said in a prepared statement, noting Morrisey declined to endorse Trump until the Republican National Convention. “Patrick Morrisey cannot be trusted in the Senate to stand with President Trump when the chips are down.”

Morrisey’s campaign responded with a statement slamming Jenkins as a “fraud” and noted he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2008.

“Patrick Morrisey has been endorsed by many conservatives throughout West Virginia and America because of his strong conservative record,” Morrisey spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said. “Attorney General Morrisey does not support these attacks on President Trump and his family.”

But Morrisey and other Bannon endorsees also declined to specifically break with the former strategist, even as Trump himself attacked Bannon as having “lost his mind” after being “fired” from the White House. “We have many great Republican members of Congress and candidates who are very supportive of the ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda,” Trump said. “Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down.”

The Trump-Bannon rift also pleases Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his political network, which maintained Wednesday that Bannon’s backing provides zero political benefits, even in Republican primaries.

“We have said from the beginning that Bannon would be a liability for any Senate candidate who embraced him, and now that he has openly turned on President Trump, it’s hard to see how his toxicity helps anyone,” said Steven Law, president and CEO of Senate Leadership Fund.

It’s unclear whether Bannon’s missteps will deal lasting damage to any of the candidates he supports, and it certainly won’t eliminate anti-establishment feelings among GOP primary voters or improve McConnell’s standing. A recent Remington Research survey of GOP primary voters in Florida found just 14 percent identified as traditional or establishment Republicans, while 36 percent identified as Trump Republicans and 5 percent identified with the tea party.

It’s unclear whether Bannon’s missteps will deal lasting damage to any of the candidates he supports

For some candidates, they also have nowhere else to go. Establishment Republicans and most conservative groups have shunned former Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward, who ran against Sen. John McCain last cycle and was planning to challenge Sen. Jeff Flake before Flake announced his retirement. While Bannon isn’t her only endorser, he’s the one with the most juice nationally, and Ward’s campaign sought to downplay Bannon’s role on Wednesday.

“Steve Bannon is only one of many high-profile endorsements Dr. Ward has received,” spokesman Zachery Henry said. “The daily parlor intrigue in Washington, D.C., does nothing to improve the lives of the hard-working men and women of this country.”

The campaign of Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, who is facing a Bannon-backed candidate in businessman Danny Tarkanian, directly attacked Bannon for the first time. “Danny Tarkanian and Steve Bannon are frauds whose only skill is losing elections and costing Republicans seats,” Heller spokesman Keith Schipper said.

In a prepared statement, Tarkanian stood by his ally. “I can understand why … Heller’s camp is giddy. They are desperate for any distraction that shifts the focus from the reason I got into this race in the first place; to give President Trump an ally in the Senate,” he said. “If Mr. Bannon chooses to support me in our effort to repeal and replace Dean Heller with someone who will truly have the president’s back, I welcome his support.”